BuzzSugar

Movie Preview: Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock

BuzzSugar — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:30:59 -0700

You might see the word "Woodstock" and feel like we've seen enough about the famous music festival, but this trailer for Ang Lee's first English-language film since Brokeback Mountain actually looks like it might have something new to add to the story. Taking Woodstock is kind of hilariously hard to figure out: In the lead role there's comedian Demetri Martin (who you may know from his TV show Important Things With Demetri Martin) - and then people like Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Emile Hirsch, Liev Schreiber, and Eugene Levy pop up throughout the trailer and it's like, whaaa?

The movie is based on a memoir about a motel owner and his parents who are instrumental in helping the hippies pull off the seminal 1969 rock concert. This description from the book makes the movie all the more fascinating: "Hounded by the guilt that he can't live up to his parents' standards and riven by his own covert homosexuality, Tiber pokes fun at what he calls the Teichberg Curse, a scourge that won't allow the family to escape financial ruin." I wonder if that stuff is explored in the movie? We'll have to wait until Aug. 14 to find out.

I'm still wrapping my head around this trailer, but I'm optimistic. To see for yourself, read more.

Would You Go See These Movies-Turned-Operas?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:35:41 -0700

First there was the odd news that an Italian composer is turning the Al Gore power point presentation about global warming into an opera. Now there's news that Brokeback Mountain will get similar treatment. The New York City Opera has commissioned a composer to turn the short story that inspired the popular film into an opera.

Of course, the documentary-turned-opera is more difficult to envision than a well-received love story but I still think this is a bizarre trend, and I wonder what's behind this momentum. Presumably the folks behind these shows think they're more likely to attract a broader audience with operas based on well-known titles.

So I ask you: would you consider seeing these operas?

Source

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:30:00 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to the titles below, wartime movies Rendition and In the Valley of Elah are also out this week. If you missed Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding starring Nicole Kidman, you can add that to your queue as well.

American Gangster
Great timing for this stirring drama to be released on DVD if you're trying to view Oscar nominees before the big ceremony. Director Ridley Scott recreates 1960s and 1970s Harlem to bring the true-life story of Frank Lucas to the silver screen. Played to eerie perfection by Denzel Washington, American Gangster follows Lucas as he comes to power in New York via a heroin drug ring. His savvy business instincts eventually put Lucas' business on par with that of the Italians, and catches the attention of one of the only non-corrupt law enforcement officials in town, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe).

This film earned Rudy Dee an Oscar nod for her role as Lucas' mother, and has been nominated for Best Achievement in Art Direction. Special features include a taping of the still-living Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts discussing the film and their roles in making it.

Two more interesting films, so read more

Michael Clayton
Tony Gilmore, whose screenwriting credits include The Devil's Advocate and The Bourne Ultimatum, took the director's seat for the first time for this legal thriller starring George Clooney. Michael Clayton follows a corporate lawyer (Clooney) who has made a career as his law firm's "janitor," cleaning up client legal messes. Clayton faces his biggest legal - and moral - challenge trying to help a colleague (played wonderfully by Tom Wilkinson) who has finally broken down and grown a conscience. The film has been showered with Oscar love including nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.

Lust, Caution
Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee follows up his critically-acclaimed Brokeback Mountain with this thriller set in post-WWII Shanghai. Lust, Caution is part spy thriller, part haunting love story, and tells the tale of one Chinese woman's penetration into the world of a powerful Japanese collaborator in order to aid his assassination. Lee's ability to convey extreme yearnings of lust, combined with some drawn-out love scenes earned this film an NC-17 rating. Fans of this director's work will not be disappointed.

Is Hollywood Out of Touch With Gay Characters?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:30:00 -0700

EW just put out an article lamenting the lack of movies with strong gay lead characters, musing that with the success of Brokeback Mountain, many people thought the way would be paved for more gay-centric films. The article goes on to state that perhaps the movies could take their cues from TV, where there are more and more storylines involving gay characters on even mainstream shows, like Ugly Betty and Brothers and Sisters.

Then again, as certain studio heads point out, it's easier to have a gay character in an ongoing series and have that be just one aspect of the character's life, while in movies it always seems to be The Big Issue for the character, their one defining characteristic.

One of the reasons suggested for this is that many movie studio execs are older and less comfortable with homosexuality in general, whereas TV execs tend to be younger, part of a "Will and Grace generation."

What do you think? Is Hollywood stodgy and out of touch? Or does it make sense that there aren't more gay-centric stories out there?

Source

12-Year-Old Girl "Damaged" By Brokeback Mountain

BuzzSugar — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:06:47 -0700

12-year-old Jessica Turner and her grandparents are suing the Chicago Board of Education because her 8th grade substitute teacher played Brokeback Mountain for her class. From various news reports, it looks like the family is seeking between $400,000 to $500,000 in damages. Here's more:

Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized by the movie and had to undergo psychological treatment and counseling.

In 2005, Richardson complained to school administrators about reading material that he said included curse words.

"This was the last straw," he said. "I feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read. I told them it was against our faith."

Wow. I knew Brokeback Mountain was controversial but "traumatizing"? Really?

Just... wow.

Source

The Results Are In: Recast Brokeback Mountain

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:10:50 -0800

For last week's special Oscar edition of the Recast challenge, I asked you guys to find new actors to fill the main roles in Brokeback Mountain. I was pretty happy with the casting of this movie the first time around, but it's fun to imagine other hot guys getting cozy in this Oscar-nominated movie.

There were a few hilarious entries, including an all "Saved By the Bell" cast from Yiddidea and another using only the actors from "Lost" by Redsilkshoes. But the best Recast came from Nixievixeypixie, who chose actors I wouldn't have thought of but can really imagine in the roles. To see her picks and the "new" cast photo, read more

Ennis Del Mar - Matt Damon
Jack Twist - Mark Wahlberg
Alma - Evan Rachel Wood
Lureen Newsome - Keira Knightley

Recast Special Oscar Edition: Brokeback Mountain

BuzzSugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:20:02 -0800

Every Wednesday on BuzzSugar, I'll post a Recast challenge, where I'll ask you to recast a classic TV show or movie. For this week's special Oscar edition, I decided to have you guys recast Brokeback Mountain, the movie that I think should have won Best Picture last year. (It lost to Crash, though Ang Lee did take home the directing prize.)

I was pretty happy with the casting of this movie, and Heath Ledger in particular was excellent. But if you had to recast the film with all new actors, who would you chose for the hunky cowboy and tragic wife roles? Leave your entry us in the comment section below, and I'll pick one winner to feature next Tuesday, Jan. 30, complete with a "new" cast photo.

Characters to recast:
Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger)
Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal)
Alma (Michelle Williams)
Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway)

Movie Night: Going For the Golden Globes

BuzzSugar — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 11:58:15 -0800

So many movies, so little time. Thankfully, BuzzSugar is here to help you sort through them all! Each week, I'll choose a theme for a Movie Night and feature three must-see movies in keeping with that theme. This week's theme: Golden Globe Best Picture winners.

This year's Golden Globe winner for Best Picture Drama was Babel, a movie that reinforces the idea that emotion has no language. When I started looking back at the Best Drama winners over the past 10 years, I noticed that many of the Globe winners seem to address this universality of emotions, and three of my favorites really stood out. For the best Best Picture, Drama, winners over the past decade, the winners are...

American Beauty
This 2000 Golden Globe winner brings us a tale of the seemingly perfect, suburban Burnham family. Beneath the surface, however, all-American dad Lester (Kevin Spacey) is bored to the point of hopeless depression. While his wife (the incredible Annette Benning) comes rapidly unhinged, Lester begins to obsess over his teenage daughter's friend. Meanwhile, the daughter, Jane (Thora Birch), starts a friendship with the quiet, artsy boy next door who lives with his homophobic father. Not only is the screenplay extremely well-written, but the cinematography is also so gorgeously moving it lends a timelessness to this sad yet compelling portrait of "the good life" in American suburbia.

To see the other two, read more

The Hours
The 2003 Best Drama winner, The Hours, is an adaptation of a superbly written novel by Michael Cunningham, which weaves together the lives of three women from three different time periods. Nicole Kidman deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf, a gifted writer battling depression in the 1920s. Julianne Moore plays Laura Brown, a 1950s housewife struggling with the weight of being a mother and wife first, an individual second. In yet another moving performance, Meryl Streep plays Clarissa Vaughn, a modern-day Mrs. Dalloway living in Manhattan and caring for her terminally ill ex-lover. As the characters attempt to figure out what it means to be a 20th century woman, each actress delivers a remarkable performance, using sensitivity, intelligence, and strength to buffer the self-pity that might have diminished the characters in the hands of less skillful actresses.

Brokeback Mountain
Last year's winner, Brokeback Mountain, has been fodder for seemingly endless parody, and at times it borders on overly sentimental. Yet it is still a stunning movie about a love that withstands time, conventional values, and even language, since the film depicts a relationship for which its participants are afraid to assign a name. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are cowboys working on Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Living and camping together every day and night, their friendship progresses into something deeper, and over the next 20 years, their efforts to hide the truth of themselves from their families and peers complicates their lives and their relationship.

What to TiVo: Saturday

BuzzSugar — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:50:20 -0800

ABC has College Football
CBS has a repeat of The Mentalist and is new with 48 Hours Mystery
FOX is new with Cops and America's Most Wanted
NBC has repeats of Mercy, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU
Bravo has Brokeback Mountain
E! has The Wedding Singer
MTV has repeats of South Park, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Twilight: Love Bites, and MTV News: New Moon Revealed
USA has Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
VH1 has Trading Places
Late-night highlights include Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dave Matthews Band on Saturday Night Live on NBC